Saturday, May 19, 2007

"Mr Motala was being given sleeping pills each night, and examined by a doctor each morning before the police interviews began."

It still seems unlikely that the Police can take a citizen from their home, lock them up, interrogate them, on the basis of entirely spurious charges (on suspicion of "commissioning, preparing or instigating acts of terrorism") for which it is quite evident the police had no evidence - they also helpfully provide "sleeping pills". At the same time they would search their homes and possessions and present no evidence of any crime before they do this.

But this is what happened to Imran Motala the cousin of the widow of Mohammad Sidique Khan who is generally described as the leader of the 7/7 "suicide " bombers in 2005, with whom he had some phone conversation in 2005 - which he explained to Plod were about a trip he was planning to Dewsbury, where Sidique Khan lived, after another cousin living there gave birth. While there, he said, he went out night-clubbing, stayed out all night, and Sidique Khan rang his mobile telephone repeatedly to enquire after him.

Fortunately we now have the experience of Imran Motala in the Guradian today, who details to Ian Cobain his time a Paddington Green Police Station where he was evidently viewed as the so called "5th bomber" on the basis of a rucksack allegedly found in the boot of a car (which car) at Luton Railway Station - apparently abandoned by the "gang".

Apparently before being lifted by Plod he had been the subject of (not very) covert surveillance for a year, before being arrested and questioned for seven days.

At Paddington Green in West London it was repeatedly put to him that he not only aided the 7/7 bombers but also that he was destined to have been one himself.

"They didn't just think I had with-held information about the bombings, they thought I was involved, that I was to have been the fifth bomber, (see first comment re the official narrative which says "There is no intelligence to indicate that there was a fifth or further bombers." ) " he said. "They asked me: 'Are you the fifth bomber? Were you meant to be the fifth bomber? Did you bottle out in the end?'" - perhaps they should bring in John Sweeney to take over the questioning - equally unproductive but probably far more entertaining.

Mr Motala says Plod also suspect he was the "unidentified male" who bought the rucksacks which contained the bombs from a Millets store in Leeds six days before the bombings. (There is no publicly available evidence or testimony from anyone outside the West Yorkshire Police of any such a transaction - or indeed that the rucksacks conatining the bombs came from Millet's - which given the prevalence of Fitness First rucksacks in these bombings is not surprising see UPDATE for interesting variant on ricksack buyers)

It was whilst he was in custody that he learned the extent of Police "painstaking" (and hidesously expensive and soaking up scarce police resources) surveillance and investigations over the time since the 7/7 bombing;

1. Both he and members of his family had been followed2. All of his previous employers had been interviewed3. He strongly suspects that his family home in the Lozells area of Birmingham was bugged when West Midlands police raided the property last year, ostensibly looking for firearms.4. While his parents, brother and a sister were being driven by police to a hotel, other officers were looking under floorboards, removing photographs, documents, electrical equipment and even two Hoovers.

Needless to say none of this "painstaking " investigation in this "complex" case (large and complex criminal investigations. - Met) produced a shred of evidence to support any charge - but was arrested along with his cousin Hasina Patel, Mohammad Sidique Khan's widow and her brother Arshad - who were both released with him after 7 days.

Despite the lengthy surveillance operation, no evidence was found that would justify charges against him.

It seems Mr Motala is a bit of a lad and had been dragged from the bed of his girl friend shortly after dawn, from his girlfriend's room at the University of Birmingham Victoria Halls of residence ( Eight unarmed police officers, half of them uniformed - The suspect was not a student and the residence is not owned by the University A silver Peugeot 307 was removed from the scene by police shortly after the arrest.). Meanwhile of course across town the famil house was being raided and the family helpfully moved into a hotel ... Mr Motala is a trained artist, an enthusiastic break dancer, and apparently likes a drink. All which would be known to the Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command when they arrested him....why ? Well Plod had a "cunning plan" ..or at least they thought that Mr Motala did..

" The police told me they thought my western lifestyle was just a cover," he says. "Once I was at Paddington Green police station, they said: 'It's all there in the training manual for jihad.'"

So the end result is , further alienation from the Muslim communities, increased evidence that they haven't a clue how to conduct enquiries, and a massive waste of scarce public resource ... the insistence on a "5th" bomber has the ring of the insistence that the Yorkshire Ripper was a Geordie ... yeah that was a provincial police force ... my oh! my it was the West Yorkshire Police .. In Rochdale they wait to discover how Mr Castree gets fit up for the Molseed murder on a DNA fit ... after the officers lost all the evidence when poor old Mr Kisko 's case started falling apart ... yes , don't guess ... that's the West Yorkshire Police as well.

Pic - Remember this one ? Allegedly one of the "bombs" found in the "bombers" rucksacks / cars in Luton railway station at some time after and remarkably now this police forensic evidence bears an abc (That's Disney by the way) Copyright tag. This must have been what that "5th" bomber bottled out of ? Thats an acetone peroxide explosive in that bottle by the way , or maybe well ..er .. soemthing else - brave fucking photographer is what I say if it's a preoxide explosive.

UPDATE 19/5/07 8.30 BST

COMMENT No1 is a MUST read... see official narrative "There is no intelligence to indicate that there was a fifth or further bombers."

ALSO Keir points out that the Sunday Mirror17/7/05 has this story , of a memory less than 10 days old - how very odd !

Shopkeeper Eddie McTiernan of the Alamo sports shop in Wakefield, West Yorks, claimed last night that Hasib Hussain bought the rucksack which contained the explosives that blew up the bus in his shop just 24 hours earlier.

"I'm absolutely 100 per cent sure this man was in my shop," he said. "The only comment I remember him making was: 'That'll do nicely'."

Friday, May 18, 2007

Poor old Wolfy, not even mentioned on Madame Palfrey's list !.. he get's the bum's rush, and quelle horreur only gets US$400,000 pay off - Geez ! Not enough for a dog kennel in Georgetown.

That nice man Mr Boulton had to leave the UN, even after George couldn't sneak him past the Senate, now the sniffer out of corruption in the third world is the biter bit.

In a curious and sutly ironic twist, just as Tony and George are having their Definitely Last Show it is the true Brit and member of the World Bank’s board, Thomas Scholar, who took the lead in negotiating with Mr. Wolfowitz’s lawyer,Robert S Bennett over the president’s exit.

Thomas Scholar ? - Who He ? Well he was private secretaryand apparently close friend of ...er.. Gordon Brown .. the .. er ... new UK Prime Minister.

"I regret that it's come to this," said President George Bush at a morning news conference with departing British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "I admire Paul Wolfowitz." - maybe poor old Wolfy didn't use Colgate toothpaste - looks like his teeth could do with some attention - not to mention his distinctive lickspittle coiffeur.

However WaPo reported that ..."The German executive director on the board, Eckhard Deutscher, and the British representative, Thomas Scholar, were both under strong pressure from their governments to resolve the leadership crisis swiftly, and both were authorized to pursue a vote to fire Wolfowitz"

Rarely seen and rarely heard - George Galloways's last intervention in Parliament was in January when he asked a question about Tony Blair (Prime Minister) visiting a hospital in his constituency without consulting him. A speech on Iraq at the time on Iraq has disappeared from his official website, but evidently the 52 year old and his glamorous Lebanese girlfriend Rima Husseini, 36, have been making hay whilst he is out of the sunlight - although as she is registered as his Parliamentary Secretary they must see a lot of each other - ah! the nimble fingers of a competent typist.

George already has a beautiful daughter, Lucy, 24 from his first marriage to glamorous Elaine Fyffe who has produced him two fine boucing grandchildren already.

The good news is of our hermitic revolutionary is that Rima gave birth last Sunday at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London at 12.20pm. to his first son - but the show must go on - by 7.15pm, the chirpy father and Bethnal Green and Bow MP was at the Hackney Empire for a Mother Of All Sundays billed as evening of pungent political commentary, debate, humour and verbal fireworks with George Galloway MP. The man who humbled the US Senate and now draws in a record audience for his radio phone-in show on TalkSport will be answering all the questions you throw at him during this special one man show - £15; £10 for students, unemployed, old age pensioners.

The Scots get a chance for this rib tickling reprise of the Archie Rice of Parliament at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh - 3rd of June 2007, and Glasgow - ROYAL CONCERT HALL (Strathclyde Suite) 10th of June 2007.

Some time examining the local election results for 2006 of George's empire shows ;

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to her statement in the debate on 24 January 2007, Official Report, column 1428, on Iraq and the wider Middle East, if she will place in the Library the results of the opinion poll of the people of Basra; who (a) commissioned and (b) paid for the poll; which organisation conducted it; and what its (i) methodology and (ii) sample size was.

The information requested cannot be provided, in order to protect the personal security of individuals involved. The methodology and sample size used for the opinion poll were appropriate in order to gain statistically valid results.

Ex Hoosier David Letterman let the cat out of the bag - the secret joke that all Washington is suppressing - in his intro monologue on Wednesday night he fingered war criminal and Vice President Dick (I'm just back from Baghdad ) Cheney about rumors of his involvement in the D.C. Madam scandal.

"Here's a story we're working on now," .... "Apparently, there are rumors coming out of Washington that Vice President Dick Cheney, when he was the CEO of Halliburton, used to go visit prostitutes. This could explain why one girl was paid two billion dollars. I mean, I was thinking about this and Cheney ... I mean, going to a prostitute, that's ... I mean, I can't believe a good-looking guy like that would ever have to pay for sex, you know what I'm saying?"

Apparently when contacted CBS declined to comment.

The Editor of TPM Cafe On Tuesday, May 15,submitted a question to be asked of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this editor submitted a question to be asked of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. SCreened it was never asked .... this is the question ...

"Do you believe a Special Counsel is necessary in the DC Madam case since a number of Justice Department officials and other federal law enforcement officers, including those involved in prosecuting the case against the "DC Madam," are also clients of her sexual fantasy entertainment firm, Pamela Martin & Associates?"

AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report reports the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline (US 3.6 litres) at a high of US $3.114, up from $3.103 on Wednesday and 8.7% higher than a month ago.

Gas stocks are below those one year ago and refineries are reporting production mishaps daily - refiners won't pass up the opportunity to cash in on Memorial Day (May 28th) price hikes.

ConocoPhillips reported a shutdown due to a leak on a sulfur recovery unit at its Sweeny, Texas They also announced closing a 67,000 barrel-per-day gasoline-producing catalytic cracking unit at its 146,000 barrels-per-day Broger, Texas, refinery for a month.

On Wednesday, Valero reported "boiler problems and steam-system issues" at it's huge Houston refinery are units are offline are offline and not producing fuel - but expects to be back to normal early next week.

Due to bad weather conditions, two tankers have been diverted to the Gulf Coast from the East Coast disrupting market flows and producing supply disruptions will will knock on to higher pump prices.

With refiners operating at maximum utilisation and oil prices hovering around US$64 a barrel,with uncertainties in Iraq/Iran /Nigeria there is no prospect of any price falls real soon now.

Should any US readers be contemplating a trip to the UK, pump prices for regular unleaded gasoline are (4.6 litres per gallon) hovering just below US$2 a litre - pushing US$7 for a US gallon - so stop bitching. (For UK pump prices go here - to feel really pissed off go here to discover Channel islands pump price for regular unleaded is about 65p per litre !!)

Financed by 533 investors who raised US$20 million the plant was built and is run by the Renewable Energy Group (REG) of Ralston , Iowa, it will ship to Safeway gas stations in California and to New England heating oil distributors. Currently REG has up to 45% of the national capacity for biodiesel fuel which with 2 plants to open later this year (Washington & Farley in Iowa) will increase to 212 MN Gallons capacity - more than the US produced last year.

Soybean oil that can make up to about 80% of a typical plant's production costs and is approaching record prices, although supplies are plentiful at present yet soyabeans at at record highs with nearby futures prices for soybean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade closed at nearly 33 cents per pound recently - industry guesstimates are 34 cents a pound is the maximum profitable feedstock price .

This reflects the way that biodiesel is now catching the investors imagination as the ethanol boom has peaked after recently overpriced IPO's - US Soyabean acreages are also down 15% so far this year as corn acreage has expanded by 18% and world demand is increasing as India, China and Europe are expected to import more soyabean oil according to the recent USDA OIL crops Outlook.

CIE have also opted to spend an additional $5 million on a fatty acid stripper allowing the use of animal fats as feedstocks (lower cost chicken guts basically) as well as soybeans.http://www.regfuel.com/about_reg.html

REG are nearly ready to fire up the US$50 Mn ,multiple feedstock (vegetable and animal sources) Heartland Biodiesel plant at Rock Port, Missouri. Investment has been slower than hoped and Heartland's chairman, Stan Griffin, a Rock Port banker and manager of his family's farm is quoted saying ... "We're looking at a US$23 million goal and we're just short US$1.8 million - with minimum investments of US$20K"

A new Missouri state law kicked in last year that will give biodiesel plants with majority ownership by Missouri investors a tax credit. For the planned 30-million gallon plant at Rock Port , it will amount to $6 million per year for five years.

That gives Heartland an advantage. So does the fact that it, too, will be a plant capable of converting animal fats or vegetable oils to biodiesel.

REG are also breaking ground soon on a multiple feedstock 60 Mn Gallon a year plant at Emporia, Lyon County, between Topeka and Wichita on the Kansas Turnpike I-335.

In spite of the current high soybean oil prices, the outlook for soydiesel production remains good. Like the ethanol industry, biodiesel now has federal tax credit that cuts the cost of the renewable fuel for blenders. The tax credit is $1 per gallon.

REG are very positive, even with the prospect of high soya prices, "Fuel prices are going to be high and you can afford to pay high prices for soybean oil if gasoline is $4."

Thursday, May 17, 2007

" .....these Islamic fundamentalists, these radical terrorists, these Middle Eastern monsters are committed to destroying the Jewish nation, driving her into the Mediterranean, conquering the world. And, we are the great Satan. We are the ultimate goal. I talked this morning with Tom Rose publisher of the Jerusalem Post, and orthodox Jew, and he said, "Now America knows in a horrible way what Israel's been facing for 53 years at the hand of Arafat and other terrorists and radicals and barbarians......

.....since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil, first time, and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters; the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats, what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact, if in fact God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve....

.....The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'.

Picture is the ad parody Hustler published and formed the basis of Falwell's action Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988)

The parody showed a picture of Falwell, with an "interview" in which "Falwell" describes his first sexual experience as occurring “with Mom” in an outhouse while both were "drunk off our God-fearing asses on Campari." In the spoof interview, "Falwell" goes on to say that he was so intoxicated that "Mom looked better than a Baptist whore with a $100 donation," that he decided to have sex with his mother since she had "showed all the other guys in town such a good time," and that they had intercourse regularly afterwards. Finally, when asked if he had tried Campari since, "Falwell" answered, "I always get sloshed before I go out to the pulpit. You don’t think I could lay down all that bullshit sober, do you?"

A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia found the parody did not amount to libel. The US Supreme Court ruled that a public figure could not recover damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress based on a satire because under the1st Amendment an obvious satire or parody of a public figure remains protected speech, even if it causes emotional distress to that person.(1988 voted 8-0)

Update 18th May Larry Flynt interviewed by larry King talking about Jerry Falwell on YouTube ... he didn't have a bad word for him...

Harlan Ullman is not a happy man. OH! No! Harlan Ullman's name has been traduced. Harlan Ullman feels aggreived ... no . Harlan Ullman IS aggreived.

The name of Harlan Ullman has been mocked. The name of Harlan Ullman is derided, it has become a plaything for the press ... does not Iago plead with Othello ?

Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands:But he that filches from me my good nameRobs me of that which not enriches himAnd makes me poor indeed.

Indeed. Harlan Ullman's reputation has been toyed with, his name , indeed his "good name" has been filched. Thereby he has been impoverished ...

Harlan Ullman has pondered and he speaks. Throughout the land, nay globally, the name of Harlan Ullman has been murdered ... is this because this name, this once proud name has been bemerded with tales of saucery .. that Harlan Ullman confidante of Presidents and Generals has been disporting with trollopes , harlots and the nameless (as yet) houris of Madame Palfrey ?

Is polite Washington society (wherever that may be found Dear Reader) smirking behind it's collective hand at mischeivous tales of his disporting with ladies of the night..? That for filthy lucre he has sated his lusts with pliant females ... called across the ether by his mobile ?

Harlan Ullman explains to the discreet few who are lucky to read his timeless apercus in the Washington Times ...

"Recently, my name has been in the press on matters not related to my professional activities. I will deal with those issues separately. But, intentionally or not, these accounts have also misrepresented my professional standing."

Reader, this is serious, more serious than that he should be steeped in the sweat of hired love ... the name of Harlan Ullman , nay, the proud name of Harlan Ullman has been misreprsented not once, not twice not thrice by the poisoned pens of an unfeeling Press but four times have they sought to demean his name .. the bastards !!!

Specifically, numerous statements and media reports have credited me with

1) ...being a "neoconservative,"2) ....a strong supporter of the Bush administration's Iraq policies3) ....and a key "architect of the Iraq war"4.) .... through the doctrine of "shock and awe."

It is time to correct the record.

So for a further thirteen paragraphs he does .. Dear Reader you are left to discover for yourself how the worlds Press have so unforgivingly labelled the name of Harlan Ullman with these vile slanders.

As for the suggestion that he sated his loins with hired and quivering flesh, played out his desires by the commercial courtesy of the fragrant Madame of the Beltway .....Harlan Ullman , proud bearer of that illustrious name will ... er ... "will deal with those issues separately".

1. Angling2. PETA / NSPCC / League Against Cruel Sports3. A PG 12 Film4. Sado - Masochist series on Channel 45. Help for Addicts on National Health Service

Readers were invited to choose which and to see if the image failed the The Advertising Standards Association (ASA) CAP Code - RulesFEAR AND DISTRESS

9.1 No marketing communication should cause fear or distress without good reason. Marketers should not use shocking claims or images merely to attract attention.

Well Lord Patel did and complained to the ASA for the first time ever.

The good news is that this high profile and inordinately expensive ( £8mn ) anti smoking campaign from the NHS has been adjudicated and the posters have been banned - the first Government ad to be banned for 5 years.

Despite conceding that smoking is the UK’s single-biggest cause of preventable illness and early death in the UK, the ASA decided that the £7m ad campaign for the Department of Health’s anti-smoking campaign featuring graphic pictures of people with fish-hooks in their mouths were distressing and upsetting, especially for children.

The campaign triggered 774 complaints. The “Get Unhooked” campaign was created by Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy and ran across television, poster, national press and magazines, and online.More than 150 parents said that the posters had scared their kids, aged between two and 15 - the NHS claims that , "The posters were deliberately not placed near schools" - so were evidently aware of te potnetial to dstress children.

The associated TV ads were not banned but have had timing restrictions to avoid child viewers and the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) had been aware of the potential to scare children. However, the ASA decided that despite the fact the TV ads and posters highlight the perils of smoking, they were likely to frighten and distress children.The ASA unsurprisingly "..noted that, although the posters had not been placed near schools, they had appeared in places where they could easily be seen by children." Complaints about the newspaper, magazine and internet ads were not upheld.

In attempting to evaluate the usefulnes of the campaign the NHS Provides the following figures -

Since the launch of the campaign, 83,606 smokers phoned the NHS Smoking Helpline, 545,564 had visited the gosmokefree website, 195,000 had had interactions (?) with the TV pages and 6,743 had made contact via SMS. No follow up figures are available. £8Mn (including production costs) well spent ?

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

John Sweeney arrived in the offices of Craig Murray when he stood for Parliament in May 2005. John Sweeney BBC apparatchik and Gubment apologist, a portly (300lb) shambling figure in the second hand, shabby and stained DOM raincoat, sweaty forehead and the moist trembling lips of a child molester... his evident venereal strabismus giving him an unpleasant aspect even when he unsmilingly smiling confronted the polite and sweet and polite Moazzem Begg.

He had with him hard boiled, hatchet faced hackette who we eventually discovered was ace BBC Producer Giselle Portenir. A celbrated Canadian , unspeaking, unsmiling and deeply sinister. A profile so hard you could easily cut firewood with it. Her midget cameraman , probably dragged off a porn shoot to ceaselesssly record the Sweeney odysssey through bleak Blackburn.

This was Sweeney building up a head of steam just prior to his behaving exactly as he did when hit on by the Scientologist.

Rgerettably this was when the memory card was filled up.

But prior to that he had been roundeed on Craig's Uzbek freind Nadia - whose treatment at the nads of the the sceret services of her native land you can read about in Craig's "Murder in Samarkand".

"Do you believe in boiling people""Do you believe in boiling people""Do you believe in boiling people""Do you believe in boiling people"

..he repeated endlessly as she broke into tears and screamed something in Russian at him ..

"Do you believe in boiling people""Do you believe in boiling people"

At this stage Lord Patel and others intervened and rounded on him - agian he repated the mantra he had screamed at us when he had endlessly asked Moazem Begg

” Why did you come here to support Craig Murray, he isn’t a Muslim ?”” Why did you come here to support Craig Murray, he isn’t a Muslim ?”” Why did you come here to support Craig Murray, he isn’t a Muslim ?”

Moazzem, endlesly patient and courteous explaind that credd was of no concern when defending human rights... rayional thought ... probably thought is beyond the mental processes in the Sweeney cranium ...

” Why did you come here to support Craig Murray, he isn’t a Muslim ?”” Why did you come here to support Craig Murray, he isn’t a Muslim ?”

Bill Bowles rounded on him, saying he was out of order .. “ I am provocative” he explains, “..it is my job”. His hatchet faced handmaiden, with glacial and forbidding stare.. “ I am provocative”

A gang of four armed thieves broke into a private Istanbul hospital, 2 weeks ago, ostensibly looking for cash - it ended up with a shootout with the police - it then transpired that the four attackers were disgruntled customers wanting their money back.

Subsequently it transpired that one of the people in the hospital, clad in green surgical gown and kitted up for surgery was Prof. Zaki Shapira, 71,(see pic of him in Police van) for years one of Israel's leading transplant surgeons at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.

Shapira allegedly retired 5 years ago because it was suspected that he was involved with organ trafficking. He was, paradoxically , a member of the Bellagio Task Force on global transplant ethics but has reportedly been operating as a transplant outlaw since the early 1990s when he first used local Arab brokers to locate willing kidney sellers among strapped Palestinian workers in the Gaza and the West Bank. Shapira's hand was slapped by an ethics review board (the Cotev Commission) in the mid 1990s. So Shapira simply moved his illicit practice overseas - to Turkey and to countries in Eastern Europe where the collapse of the CSU and resulting economic chaos of the past decade has created parallel markets in the trafficking of bodies for sex and for kidneys.

When arrested , the Turkish courts ordered Shapira held without bail, although he is appealing on the grounds that he took no active role in the surgery and didn't know the hospital was unlicensed.

Three others people discovered, were 2 Israeli Arabs suspected of selling organs and one who bought a kidney from them and underwent transplant surgery and had been accompanied by Shapira on his trip to Turkey. Further investigation by the police discovered that the hospital / clinic had been ordered to close down by a court order more than a month earlier due to illegal organ transplants that had been performed there. The hospital had apparently received numerous similar warnings in the past, and was unlicensed - there were also 4 more patients who were said to be waiting in the hospital for transplants at the time of the incident. The current tariff is said to be in the region of US$180,000.

The sale of human organs for transplanting is illegal in Israel , but it is not yet illegal according to Israeli law when carried out abroad, though it does violate international law. Paradoxically before the illegal invasion of Iraq , family mebers of affluent Palestinians from the West Bank would travel to Baghdad, Iraq, where several medical centers catered to transplant tourists from elsewhere in the Arab world. The kidney sellers, in Iraq were mostly young men, foreign workers from Jordan and poor Iraqis who are housed in a special wing of hospitals in dorms that were called kidney motels. It is difficult to believe that this trade has entirely disappeared.

The Israeli Transplantation Society said it is working to prevent organ sales through a bill that has been tabled in the Knesset, with the Labor, Social Affairs and Health Committee.

The society has been making representations to the Health Ministry to find a solution to the severe shortage of transplant organs in Israel and wants citizens to sign donor cards.

The Scientologists have exposed John Sweeney - You Tube he is a loathsome, arrogant, bullying, incompetent fool. The above contemporary posts from the early days of this blog when Lord Patel with many , many others were supporting Craig Murray explain most of his prize winning techniques.

Lord Patel is otherwise engaged but will return to this subject later ...meanwhile please read the above posts , which can alos be accessed simply by searching the site on the word "Sweeney".

Monday, May 14, 2007

The expertly coiffured and insufferable Ben Bradshaw, despoiler of North Sea Fish stocks and much else, who is now called Minister for Local Environment Quality, announced today the squandering of yet more tax payers funds on paid-for advertising to support campaigns preventing chewing gum litter.

The improbable Chewing Gum Action Group will sponsor "awareness raising campaigns " in August and September this year, using exciting new campaign visuals, exciting new poster-adverts, and supported by exciting wider campaign activities in each successful local authority blah..blah ... blah blah...

BB says of the 16 councils selected for this exciting campaign from the 40 who applied that ," I hope they will make the most of the opportunity this campaign offers to change behaviour by tackling irresponsible disposal of chewing gum in their areas."

Change behaviour ? You bet it will ..

1. Remind the chewers to buy more of the wretched stuff (examine carefully who sponsors this absurd fucking campaign)

2. Send Council tax-payers apoplectic

For two entertaining, informative article see 24/5/05 - On the Spit Fines and 29/02/04 - Sticky Deposits, Spit or Swallow?The costs of this behaviour changing exercise ? Coyly, Ben Bradshaw Chewing Gum Czar fails to mention. The number of people fined for spitting chewing gum ? Not available.

The picture is of "Gum Girls" distributing free exciting pouches for the public to collect, store and carry their chewed and spat out masticatory effluvium... in Piccadilly, Manchester from last years ...wait for it ... "exciting and successful campaign".

United Autoworkers, President Ron Gettelfinger, has announced that they have given their approval to Cerberus Capital Management taking on 80.1 % of Daimler Chrysler stock and injecting US$7.4 BNn - saying that it is in the best interests of their workers and that they are, "satisfied, now,that the decision has been made that our membership and management can focus on designing, engineering and manufacturing the finest quality products."

DaimlerChrysler (to be renamed Daimler) will retain 19.9% - and write off US4- $5,4 Bn from this year's profits and will aso see see a cash outflow of up to US$900 to discharge long-term Chrysler liabilities.

New York based Cerberus is one of the largest vulture capitalists private equity outfits in the world , with holdings in excess of US$24 Bn , in May 2005they bought Daimler Chrylser's share of an aircraft finance company debis AerFinance.

US Attorney Carol Lam (pic) began an investigation into 14-term Republican congressman from Redlands, Calif. Jerry Lewis's contributors in 2006. He is the Chairman of the Defence Appropriations Sub- Committee and had previously ensured the continued funding of a US$1 Bn. contract with a Cerberus company, MCI in 2003 , whose managment of a navy /Marine computer network was subject to problems of cost overruns and poor management. MCI (the company that rose out of Bernie Ebbers spectacularly bankrupt World.com has been a major subcontractor since 2000 on an $8.8 billion project to build a secure computer network for the Navy and Marines.

It appears that Cerberus had thoughtfully provided the Congressman with at least US$110,000 for his Future Leaders PAC funds the day previously at a New York fund raiser.

Carol Lam also oversaw the investigation that led to the corruption conviction of then-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who pleaded guilty in late 2005 to accepting $2.4 million in bribes. He was sentenced in March 2006 to eight years and four months in prison.

On May 11, 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Cunningham probe was being expanded to look at the actions of another California Republican, then-House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis.

On the same day chief of staff to Attoney General Alberto Gonzalez , Kyle Sampson, sent a fascinating e-mail to deputy White House counsel William Kelley, asking Kelley to call to discuss "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude that we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day her 4-year term expires."

The e-mail did not spell out what the "real problem" was, and it was unclear whether Kelley and Sampson talked later - it's contents became public as part of a congressional investigation into the firings last year of Lam and seven other U.S. attorneys, and the Bush administration's changing explanations as to what role politics or performance played.

On March 18th this year Kyle Sampson resigned.

Another group company is IAP Worldwide Services a leading government contractor providing "a broad spectrum of services focused on global mission support for the Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies." They recently hit the news as they had the contract for running the Walter Reed Hospital whose failings hit the headlines in February.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

"Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavour are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question. "

On hearing about this during the course of a radio News Quiz it was easy to imagine this was some huge spoof. It isn't

"Britain’s most expensive state school is being built without a playground because those running it believe that pupils should be treated like company employees and do not need unstructured play time.

The authorities at the £46.4m Thomas Deacon city academy in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, due to open this autumn, also believe that the absence of a playground will avoid the risk of “uncontrollable” numbers of children running around in breaks at the 2,200-pupil school."

The school / education factory boasts a website where you may examine progress (?) of the building of Sir Norman Foster's challenging design.

Whilst we await the (inevitable) Thomas Deacon Massacre, you may contribute to the fund to supply copies of "De-Schooling Society" by the late and lamented Ivan Illich to the staff and Governers. Send any contributions to the Treasurer, Nigel Molesworth, Patel Towers - further information here or (for the impatient) here

Please give a thought to the needs of USVice President Cheney as he attempts an ill fated diplomatic rescue mission today in Saudi Arabia. On his last visit King Abdullah told him and has continued to tell any State Department and Pentagon officials who pass through, over the last six weeks that the Saudi Kingdom no longer supports Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and does not believe the new U.S. military strategy to secure Baghdad will work .. let's just hope that Abdullah doesn't pull these quotes out of the dusty files ....

Patrick Tyler - New York Times story April 13, 1991, (less than one month after the shooting of fish in a barrel stopped in the Gulf war )

"Defense Secretary Dick Cheney defends the decision to end the war. "If you're going to go in and try to topple Saddam Hussein," Cheney said, "you have to go toBaghdad. Once you've got Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clearwhat kind of government you would put in place of the one that's currently there now.

Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime or a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward the Islamic fundamentalists? How much credibility is that government going to have if it's set up by the United States military when it's there? How long does the United States military have to stay to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens to it once we leave?"

5 years later in a Gulf War documentary produced for PBS's Frontline and aired on January 9, 1996.. Describing the decision to end the war on Feb. 27, 1991—Cheney said:

" ..... Now you can say, well, you should have gone to Baghdad and gotten Saddam. I don't think so. I think if we had done that we would have been bogged down there for a very long period of time with the real possibility we might not have succeeded."

What is uncertain is the aftermath. This is the variable never publicly factored into the thinking(?) of the Tony Sopranos of Dubya's gang; their deeds plant the seeds of future, furious, frightening resistance. As many as half a million Iraqi soldiers may be intentionally killed and perhaps 100,000 civilians written off to collateral damage.

Think of the grief of millions after this slaughter, the conversion of that grief into rage, combine that with the internecine struggles based on historical ethnic fault lines (that the Ba'ath Party has repressed), and we begin to appreciate the explosive complexity of post-invasion Iraq. This invasion will also ignite the well financed fires of Arab and Muslim (of all shades, hues and fealties) humiliation and anger. Either in the sands of the desert or on city streets, far from this war, the body bags will build up.